Fragment : Exodus
EXODUS The blonde haired boy on top of the thick concrete dividing wall, his feet dangling seven meters above the ground. From here he had the best view at the steady stream of people, beast and wares moving toward the elevator. Every twenty minutes or so one of the Climber boxes, filled with passengers and freight, started its 96,000 kilometer trip up to Apex Station and an empty one came down on the other side of the carbon nano fiber double tape. The boy was watching the operations of Earth to Orbit Space Elevator 4. “Asmund, get down from there!” Yelled Astrid his mother. She waved at him from the other side, where she and his family were waiting for their turn. He snapped back. “I can't see a thing from down there!” “You get down there this minute, your father will be back any moment now.” Alrik Olafson grinned as he watched the little exchange and said to the woman. “Let him be, good woman. Let him take as many memories of Earth along as he can, soon all this will be nothing but memories.” The woman had an open face, long thick blonde braids falling on her ample chest stemmed her fists into her waist and said. “The sooner we leave the better. All this machinery and all this technology makes the very air foul and offends the gods! Besides I don't want him to break his neck before we arrive on Nilfeheim.” Alrik agreed with a nod and kept on walking. He had just left the Gene Clinic where he received his last check up. The doctors there told him that his sons and all his offspring would be able to swim in the water like fishes,without the need to come up for air. Something like this would certainly be a useful trait to have on a world that was almost completely covered with water. Before him, spread out on the Concrete paved area of staging area C3 were the 1500 men women and children that soon would board one of the three waiting Colonist arks and carry them over an unimaginable distance of over 400 light years to a new world, called Nilfeheim. He would be one of them. How in Odin's name did it come to this? He must have asked this question to himself at least a thousand times in the last seven month. There at the edge of the yellow marked staging area was the reason he made the decision to follow Erik Gustavson and the rest of the new Vikings , a beautiful young woman and her name was Hanna Trolle. She was everything a man could want and more, but she also was a firebrand and about as fanatic as Erik Gustavson himself. Alrik loved the re-enactments and he agreed with most of the arguments of Erik, but he still had second thoughts about leaving Earth forever behind. Erik Gustavson the leader of the Viking Movement was a bear of a man, big as can be, strong as an ox and hard headed. He was also easy to anger and had a vile temper, stood not far from Hanna, but the massive Norwegian had no eyes for the beautiful woman. He was shaking his hams sized fist at someone or something at staging area C 2. Erik saw Alrik and yelled. “Come Alrik Olafson, thy strong arm is needed!” Alrik sighed , but hurried anyway to answer the summon of the groups leader. The red bearded founder of the Viking Movement put his heavy hand on Alrik's shoulder. “Over there my friend, Christians offend Thor and the Aseir.” The large plaza surrounding the Space Elevator was divided into several hundred, so called Staging areas. It was here the Colonists bound to other planets and colonies gathered, often for several days until they all were complete, all medical checks had been made and all required equipment was appropriated. The members of the Viking movement bound to a new world called Nilfeheim were only one of many groups, that decided to accept the offer of the United Earth government to colonize a new planet. In the case of the Neo Vikings it was not entirely voluntary. Erik Gustav and his core group had committed a string of crimes and had the choice of voluntary resettlement or forceful relocation to a Prison Colony. Erik chose the first option and included all the members of his organization. No one really wanted to say no and look like a traitor and coward. All this went through Alrik's mind as his eyes followed the pointing gesture of his insults yelling leader. A group of colonists at the neighboring staging area had gathered in neat rows before a man in black dress,black hat and white collar. Behind the man was an shipping crate decorated with two candles and a Crucifix. The man in the black hat was leading the ones before him in a religious service. Alrik could hear their voices singing a well known Hymn. A hymn he knew well. It was sung often in Church when he was taken there by his parents. He had renounced his faith and church membership as he heard of the Viking Movement. It was way cooler to sit around a fire, raise drinking horns to the name of Odin and Thor, than sit in a boring church and listen to the same old stories about Jesus who never returned anyway. But now he was older, while the values of Viking live still greatly appealed to him, he no longer was as fanatical as most of the others in his group. Erik yelled. “Let's see if they sing their sickening hymns to offend our ears after we crushed a few bones and broken a few teeth.” Erik Gustavson, loved his replica of a real viking war hammer and started to move across the floor markings that served as dividers between the staging areas. Alrik did not really want to fight, but others of his group, all armed with working reproduced Viking weapons followed Erik Gustavson with an ear shattering war cry, and so he did too.” But they did not reach their intended victims. A shimmering energy curtain shot up from the ground and Erik Gustav ran into it, and tossing him back with a sizzling angry sounding electric sizzle. Smoke curled from the big Vikings beard. It appeared he was unharmed otherwise, as the big man jumped to his feet and cursed obscene at the singing Christians while he slammed his hammer into the yellowish glowing curtain. “You foul cowards. Go worship that piss weak excuse for a God and hide behind Alien technology, we won't be stopped by this and then we rip you a new one!” His hammer blows had no effect at all,and it felt and looked as if he hammered against a wall of rubber. Most of the Vikings joined in the insulting chants. It did not take long and the authorities reacted. Dark Blue uniformed men of United Earth Police accompanied by a wheeled armored vehicle appeared. Erik Gustav grinned and pointed his hammer at the Police men. “Looks like we are going to bash a few skulls after all before we are leaving. Let's make them remember us!” He turned direction and stomped towards the line of Police officers, again followed by most of the men of his Viking Movement. Alrik was now certain that he did not want to go with these maniacs, he made up his mind. Even the love to a girl that didn't even know of his love, was worth leaving Earth. “Citizen cease all hostile activities and return to your designated staging area.” An amplified voice thundered across the field.” Erik leaned back and threw his hammer with force. The heavy weapon arched over the raised crowd control shield of a Police officer and shattered the face plate, felling the man like a tree. Erik laughed. “You are pathetic weaklings!” Before anything else could be said. A humming sound swelled up, like an angry swarm of Hornets and a almost invisible beam of glimmering air passed over Erik Gustav and everyone else. Men women and children of the Viking movement collapsed to the ground, paralyzed with twitching muscles. Alrik tried to curse, but he too was hit and turned into a helpless bundle of flesh, his muscles no longer reacting to his commands. He was quite conscious, but unable to speak or move when two police men tied him up with plastic ties and tossed him into a container box, unceremoniously stacked like fire wood, his face resting on the boots of another man, while he had the behind of another right above him. He could not move but heard the police man say . “We tried to be civil and give you a dignified send off, and treat you like any other group of settlers, but you can't even play nice for your last days on Earth. Good riddance to you and your bunch, Mr. Gustavson. You are not a Viking, just an angry man using this as an excuse to attract others and commit acts of violence.” The other cop said.”Don't waste your breath on that scum. The next time they can move they land on whatever planet they have chosen and they can fight themselves.” Alrik wanted to yell and tell them that he did not want to go to Nilfeheim. No one heard his muffled objection as as fork lift stacked this box onto a pallet and they were loaded into the Freight deck of the Space elevator Capsule. --””-- Category:Fragments - Eric Olafson